Forty Is The New Thirty: 2009 Update

Last year's update was posted on August 20. For this year, I thought the All-Star Break would provide a natural stoppage for us to take a look at the six teams that have gone the longest without a forty homerun hitter.

Minnesota Twins

Last player to hit 40: Harmon Killebrew, 1970 (41)
Current leaders: Justin Morneau (21)

In 2006, Morneau had 23 homeruns at the break; he hit eleven in the second half to finish with 34. In 2007, he had 24 at the break; he hit seven in the second half to finish with 31. (He had a good year overall last year, but slumped to 23 homeruns.) This is the third time in four years that he has gone into the break with 20+ homeruns, and he always seems to slow down in the second half. His decision to skip the Homerun Derby in 2009 is probably a wise one.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Last player to hit 40: Willie Stargell, 1973 (44)
Current leader: Adam LaRoche (12)

The Pirates are bad at many things, but they are very good at avoiding forty-homerun hitters. Jason Bay was leading the team with 22 homeruns and had a good shot at forty before he was traded; Nate McLouth got off to a hot start, ended up with 26, and was traded this season, just in case. The only bona fide homerun threat in the lineup is LaRoche, who has never hit more than 19 homeruns in the second half (2006) or seven in a month (four times).

Detroit Tigers

Last player to hit 40: Cecil Fielder, 1991 (44)
Current leaders: Brandon Inge (21), Curtis Granderson (18), Miguel Cabrera (17)

Inge's career-high in homeruns is 27 in 2006. He had 17 roundtrippers at the All-Star Break that year but only ten in the second half. Granderson is hitting more homeruns, but fewer doubles and triples. And Cabrera hit 16 in the first half last year before stroking 21 in the second to lead the league at 37. He's probably got the best chance of anyone currently on the team to break forty.

Kansas City Royals

Last player to hit 40: None
Current leader: Miguel Olivo (13)

Miguel Olivo's career homerun high is 16. If he hits 27 homeruns in the second half, I will turn this into a blog that reports only on events that pertain to Miguel Olivo.

Florida Marlins

Last player to hit 40: Gary Sheffield, 1996 (42)
Current leader: Dan Uggla (16)

Uggla looked good at the halfway point last year, with 23, but only hit nine more the rest of the way to finish with 32. He hit fourteen in the second half of the previous two years.

Baltimore Orioles

Last player to hit 40: Rafael Palmeiro, 1998 (43)
Current leader: Luke Scott (17)

A forty-homerun hitter is unlikely this season, but with Nick Markakis, Nolan Reimold, Adam Jones, and Matt Wieters in the lineup, it may not be long before Baltimore gets off this list.

Now I Know How Molly Ringwald Felt

Does anyone know what Sunday was? Anyone? Bueller?

Okay, I'll tell you. It was the third anniversary of the day I started One More Dying Quail. Don't feel bad - even I forgot about it until about ten minutes ago.

Hard to believe it's been three years already. Things have slowed down a lot in that time - last month was a record low for me, with one lonely post - as my writing energy has shifted elsewhere, but I still consider this my "home base", the place I can use when I need to post my thoughts about Roger Federer or Kendra Wilkinson.

Anyway, no big link posts this year (I'm not sure I had the content over the past year to support one). Just go read the new stuff at Bus Leagues so I can get rich and retire.

5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 16-14

I don't get to watch much television these days. Over the past few months, since my son learned how to operate the DVD player and ask for movies, my viewing has been limited to things like Shrek, Madagascar, Cars, Meet the Robinsons...you get the point.

Somehow, though, I wrested control of the remote from the little one on Sunday morning. My wife reminded me about the Wimbledon final (via a friend's Facebook status that mentioned how great the battle was between Federer and Roddick) and I turned the channel to NBC in the fifth set with the score 10-9 in favor of Federer.

It's amazing how much Federer's entire demeanor changes when Rafael Nadal is out of the picture. At both the French Open and Wimbledon, he had the appearance of a man who knew that he was, by a longshot, the best player in the building. When Nadal is the opponent, or looming further on down the draw, Federer looks nervous, his concentration starts to crack, he begins to show emotion. He becomes...human.

Without Nadal's presence to weigh him down, Federer's win was almost a foregone conclusion. Somehow, from the time I turned the television on, I knew he was going to beat Roddick. It was the same feeling he used to conjure up in the past, the same feeling he still conjures up whenever he plays anyone except Rafael Nadal. There was just a sense that he was playing his game, looking for Roddick to make a mistake, and willing to wait as long as possible for that to happen.

Eventually, of course, it did; Federer broke Roddick's serve and held his own, which was all he needed to take home his sixth Wimbledon title in seven years. (A thought about last year's final: if memory serves, the match was delayed at least twice by rain, allowing Nadal the opportunity to briefly rest his damaged knees. What if the retractable roof, new to this year's tournament, was in place last year? Might Federer have physically outlasted Nadal for the title, and might his streak now be at seven?)

One thing I will say about Roddick: his spirit and attitude were remarkable. While Federer has always exuded an air of calm during his matches, not matter the circumstances (again, except when he faces Nadal), Roddick has never seemed able to find a consistent oncourt style. My previous most prominent memory of him was from a Grand Slam final a few years ago, maybe the 2006 U.S. Open, against Federer. Every time he won a point, Roddick stormed around the court, ranting and raving and shouting like a madman. It seemed a calculated attempt to draw the home crowd into it and perhaps throw Federer off his game (I read later that Jimmy Connors, who I think was coaching Roddick at the time, used to do the same thing during his playing days), but all it did was waste precious energy. When playing Federer, I think, you need to conserve every possible ounce of energy and use it on the court.

On Sunday, however, Roddick just went about his business. Most players would have folded far earlier, but he held on for as long as possible, even coming close to breaking Federer's serve late in the fifth set. And after the match, while clearly upset with the loss, he was gracious in defeat. My favorite moment came when Federer said in the post-match interview that he knew what Roddick was feeling because he had lost in a similar manner last year. From halfway across the court, Roddick yelled back, "Yeah, but you had already won it five times!"

Bottom line, I'm glad I got the chance to catch the end of this classic match. I even recorded the ending (only the last game, but still) and can transfer it to VHS if I want, which is more than I can say for last year's epic. That match went away when we moved and had to get a different DVR unit (although I think you can buy it from Wimbledon.org for $19.99 or something).